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COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC

INTRODUCTION: Due to the unprecedented, COVID-19 pandemic and resulting health/safety guidelines, rapid-adjustments to treatment plans for patients battling glioblastoma (GBM; debilitating, aggressive cancer) were critical. Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields; FDA-approved for GBM; antimitotic device) a...

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Autores principales: Frongillo, Peggy, Shackelford, Melissa, Rain, Lindsay
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7650342/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noaa215.089
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author Frongillo, Peggy
Shackelford, Melissa
Rain, Lindsay
author_facet Frongillo, Peggy
Shackelford, Melissa
Rain, Lindsay
author_sort Frongillo, Peggy
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: Due to the unprecedented, COVID-19 pandemic and resulting health/safety guidelines, rapid-adjustments to treatment plans for patients battling glioblastoma (GBM; debilitating, aggressive cancer) were critical. Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields; FDA-approved for GBM; antimitotic device) are alternating electric fields (200 kHz) delivered through scalp-placed transducer arrays to target rapidly dividing GBM cells. Visitor restrictions at cancer-centers and often overburdened healthcare teams provided obstacles to cancer therapy. Health and safety of patients/caregivers, healthcare providers (HCPs), and patient Device Support Specialists (DSS) were prioritized. We evaluated the impact of Novocure® (device manufacturer) implemented strategies on overcoming limitations/restrictions to treatment-access during COVID-19. TREATMENT/PROTOCOL: TTFields (Optune) offers a viable noninvasive, built-in-care system for convenient at-home use. TTFields provides survival benefit with continuous, portable-usage and is tolerable (no-related systemic effects) without overall impact on quality-of-life (except itchy skin). Novocure adopted/amended protocols to meet health guidance/regulation (ie, World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local, hospital/clinic directives). PERSPECTIVES: COVID-19 forced a change in treatment patterns imposed by quarantine limitations. This, coupled with the vulnerabilities of immunocompromised patients with GBM, necessitated new-access to TTFields. A COVID-19 task force was created to monitor developments, providing directives to minimize risks to patients/caregivers and employees. Hygiene-practices/full-personal protective equipment were applied for live patient-appointments with DSS. Virtual education appointments were executed to guide patients/caregivers through treatment-initiation. New, no-contact, monthly-usage data downloads were employed. Communication measures were implemented, informing HCPs of process changes impacting patients. To date, no observed differences were noted for virtual to non-virtual patient starts, demographics, time-to-start (42-days), treatment discontinuations, percentage continuing therapy (90%), and overall complaints. No new safety signals were observed utilizing new approaches. CONCLUSIONS: TTFields care-delivery has been transformed during COVID-19 and preemptively in regards to other future access-limiting events, with adoption of virtual-platforms/protocols, resulting in enhanced access and education for patients/caregivers and healthcare teams.
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spelling pubmed-76503422020-12-09 COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC Frongillo, Peggy Shackelford, Melissa Rain, Lindsay Neuro Oncol Covid-19 and Neuro-Oncology INTRODUCTION: Due to the unprecedented, COVID-19 pandemic and resulting health/safety guidelines, rapid-adjustments to treatment plans for patients battling glioblastoma (GBM; debilitating, aggressive cancer) were critical. Tumor Treating Fields (TTFields; FDA-approved for GBM; antimitotic device) are alternating electric fields (200 kHz) delivered through scalp-placed transducer arrays to target rapidly dividing GBM cells. Visitor restrictions at cancer-centers and often overburdened healthcare teams provided obstacles to cancer therapy. Health and safety of patients/caregivers, healthcare providers (HCPs), and patient Device Support Specialists (DSS) were prioritized. We evaluated the impact of Novocure® (device manufacturer) implemented strategies on overcoming limitations/restrictions to treatment-access during COVID-19. TREATMENT/PROTOCOL: TTFields (Optune) offers a viable noninvasive, built-in-care system for convenient at-home use. TTFields provides survival benefit with continuous, portable-usage and is tolerable (no-related systemic effects) without overall impact on quality-of-life (except itchy skin). Novocure adopted/amended protocols to meet health guidance/regulation (ie, World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, local, hospital/clinic directives). PERSPECTIVES: COVID-19 forced a change in treatment patterns imposed by quarantine limitations. This, coupled with the vulnerabilities of immunocompromised patients with GBM, necessitated new-access to TTFields. A COVID-19 task force was created to monitor developments, providing directives to minimize risks to patients/caregivers and employees. Hygiene-practices/full-personal protective equipment were applied for live patient-appointments with DSS. Virtual education appointments were executed to guide patients/caregivers through treatment-initiation. New, no-contact, monthly-usage data downloads were employed. Communication measures were implemented, informing HCPs of process changes impacting patients. To date, no observed differences were noted for virtual to non-virtual patient starts, demographics, time-to-start (42-days), treatment discontinuations, percentage continuing therapy (90%), and overall complaints. No new safety signals were observed utilizing new approaches. CONCLUSIONS: TTFields care-delivery has been transformed during COVID-19 and preemptively in regards to other future access-limiting events, with adoption of virtual-platforms/protocols, resulting in enhanced access and education for patients/caregivers and healthcare teams. Oxford University Press 2020-11-09 /pmc/articles/PMC7650342/ http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noaa215.089 Text en © The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
spellingShingle Covid-19 and Neuro-Oncology
Frongillo, Peggy
Shackelford, Melissa
Rain, Lindsay
COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title_full COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title_fullStr COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title_full_unstemmed COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title_short COVD-04. REAL-WORLD PERSPECTIVES: TUMOR TREATING FIELDS (TTFIELDS) UTILITY TO OPTIMIZE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH GLIOBLASTOMA (GBM) AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC
title_sort covd-04. real-world perspectives: tumor treating fields (ttfields) utility to optimize treatment of patients with glioblastoma (gbm) amidst covid-19 pandemic
topic Covid-19 and Neuro-Oncology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7650342/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/neuonc/noaa215.089
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